gSender 6.6 Beta Windows - surfacing tool issues

One of the issues I found with the surfacing program and gSender is that if you close the window and return to it the settings are lost

I don’t remember the logic of why I had to but I had to close the gadget and then go back because I wanted to check on something, and because I’m using a chiclet style keyboard it was really annoying to have to type it all in again

I would like to request the changed settings should stay the same as long as gSender is not closed.

I would like to be able to save : (in settings)

  • Router bit Diameter
  • Spindle RPM
  • Step over
  • Feed rate

For what its worth, this is my bit:

# CMT 663.004.11 Insert Carbide Spoilboard surfacing router Bit with 2-3/8" Diameter and 12mm x 50mm Shank

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Great point Stephen, I’ve got it noted down to maintain settings and allow reverting to defaults on a future build :+1:

Should be implemented as of 0.6.7

When using the Surfacing tool in gSender 0.6.9 to surface my cookies, at the completion of the job the Z axis drives hard to the top of the gantry at 3 inches. I was wondering if there was a setting or an adjustment I could make to illuminate the need for this movement. Thank you.

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Would you have the clip of gcode at the end of job completion Wayne? I’m curious how much the tool is being told to move upward, since I assume you’re not running the surfacing very near the top of the movement of your LM

To my horror, after doing some cookies this is the result of the hard moves to the top of Z gantry.


I’m going to need a couple of new belts. Can they be purchased separately?
As requested the only info I know how to recover was from the Console’s last lines, which was an M09 command. I realize that’s not enough info, perhaps you can direct me to where I can recover the info requested. Thank you.

@Megistus Damn, Wayne. :frowning_face: :cry:

Wayne this was kinda heartbreaking to wake up to. We’re looking into the surfacing bug now, big shame this occurred for you. You can get more belts individually off the store here: https://sienci.com/product/gt2-belt/

I have been waiting and watching to see if the above-aforementioned problem had been addressed in 0.7.0. ???

To answer my own question. No, this problem has not been addressed at this time.

@Megistus Just for my information, would you mind posting the gcode that you were running when the Mill ate your cookie?

its the surfacing gcode generated by gSender. so no I don’t know how to recover this code.

@Megistus It is a bit of a pain, as you need to copy and paste the code. One thing that you may want to do, though, is to look at the code that the surfacer generates. When you click on generate code, an option allows you to look at it. Choosing that shows the entire code in a window. If you are only doing one pass, there should only be two Z moves in the code. The first one comes just after the header lines. It will be a -Z command and will be equal to whatever you set the pass depth to. The second one will be just before the end of the file and it will be a Z command raising the bit up. In my case, I had a one-pass surfacing at 1mm. My first Z command was Z -1. My last Z command was Z 3.
If you have any other Z commands, that may be a place to start for Chris and the gang to figure out what is happening.

Yes, its the Z3 that’s the problem. If the Z3 wasn’t generated in the surfacing program then this would eliminate the problem.

@Megistus Got it! Sorry to be so slow, Wayne. In the short run, you could always just delete that line from the code. I don’t pretend to know why a raise in Z is causing grief, but at least you can fix it while waiting for something from Sienci.

As illustrated above, I true up biscuits, They are much higher than a wasteboard. Therefore when there is a 3 inch elevation from the biscuit height, then the Z-axis drives hard into the top of the gantry. My method is to generate the code and send it directly to the software to perform the cut. At this time I haven’t seen any code to edit. Clearly, I’m missing something. And, aside from this little inconvenience, the surfacing software works great. Thanks.
*** Found it. I was in the Visualizer Preview window. By Switching to the G-code Viewer window the code is now available. Now wasn’t that easy. Sorry for the confusion. *** Tomorrow is a all new day.

@Megistus No need to apologize, Wayne. I’m glad that you found it. Now, you can change the 3 to anything you want so that the bit just clears the material. I was about to tell you that, if you sent me your settings, I would send you a modified gcode file. No need now. All’s well that end’s well. :grinning:

Wayne, I looked into this today and now I’ve wrapped my head around your issue. This is very obviously something that was hardcoded in that isn’t tracking whether the user is in inches or mm and is just moving that fixed distance no matter the job. I’ll speak with the dev who implemented the surfacing tool and we’ll find a solution to this. Apologies it took me this long the reach this conclusion

Thank you for your close attention to this annoyance. The surfacing software and concept are fantastic and look forward to any updates. Keep up the great work.

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@Megistus I believe the issue should now be sorted in the most recent 0.7.2 release. I’d advise checking the g-code end manually before attempting. Please let us know if it works as expected :slight_smile:

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